I'm thinking 5'4 sp ?

01-16-2012, 05:09 PM

I 'm 6'1 and 180lbs and have surfed for 30 years , nothing is better ! i've got a 6'2 stealth and a 6'0 dom , they are by far the best boards ever. I'm almost sure I should be getting the 5'4 sp and putting the controller fins in it . I'm hoping to get a few more waves here in north florida if you know what I mean ! Any input would be wonderful , as I'm alittle apprehensive .

Apprehensive about going short??.
North Florida you get usually fat mush waves am I right?. Do you want the board to increase your wave count on crappy days while keeping fun performance am I right?.
At 82Kgs and 165cms I'm pretty happy on my 5'2" which I have set up with controllers as well.
Have you ever ride a board that short?. Flotation will not be an issue at all, but length might. At 6'1" you might find it a bit short although your 30 years experience should compensate for that.
If you are looking for a board for the real crappy stuff that the Dominator could not handle, you could be increasing your wave count on the 5'6" better than the 5'4". It all depends on what your preferences are

iggys on it here akurl...dont be apprehensive of float or length..i'm 6ft and 90 (and a smidge) kg's at the moment and i would be happy on iggys SP..now if we say i would ride a 5'8 dom and you are more comfy on the 6'0, that pushes you up to the 5'4... or 5'6 if you want a bit cruisier ride

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On that note, I took a SP for a demo this morning. I'd have myself on the 5'2" but considering the 5'4" for extra volume for tiny days.
The demo model was a 5'8", waaay bigger than I wanted but I figured it'd give me an idea of what the board was all about.
Picked it up at 9:30am today when my local dealer opened and was in the car park getting changed at 9:45am with waist high, glassy, high tide peelers coming through. Perfect test day! Couldn't wait to get in (normally I'd be heading home on a day like this)!
Paddling out, jeez that thing has plenty of volume. It floated me like a longboard, but at the same time it felt like it had the sort of volume I'd need for a day like this.
To begin with I stayed on the inside going for the smaller little peaks with very little wall because I really wanted to see what the bottom end of this board was going to be like. It picked up waves well, but to begin with I wasn't all that impressed. I wasn't experiencing this insane speed that everyone was talking about and initially I was finding the thing a little awkward to surf. I was bogging rail on bottom turns and cut backs. Looking for excuses, I started to blame the fins. It had glass flex SF4s in there and I thought that maybe I was under finned. I knew that plenty of people loved the SF4s though so it was probably something I was doing.

By now a few slightly larger, waist-chest high sets had started coming through so I decided to try and snag a good long one to get the feel of the board. Taking off a little later on a steeper more lined up wall, the board immediately felt 100 times better. I started to feel a bit of this built in speed everyone was talking about but still wasn't sold on it. I was surfing a little forward on the board because of the massive size and although it was trimming nicely, it wasn't exactly lighting up these tiny waves.
I reminded myself how much this board needs to be surfed off the tail and fins and then really made an effort to stay back on the board on my next wave. A waist high left peaked up for me. I was quite deep and it had a long wall, the kind of wave I wouldn't normally bother with even on a groveller... too small and too fast for my backhand! Anyway, I paddled in at an angle, popped up and leant way over my back foot. The board took off, made the first section, I got a little speed check turn and motored across the next long wall pretty much in disbelief that I was beating this section and finished off with a little floater on the end section. By now I was feeling pretty good about the board.

I got a few more lefts that lined up so I got plenty of speed but I found when turning, because I was having to surf this board way off the tail it was proving difficult to recover from the turns because my front foot wasn't in the sweet spot. I think that's why it's so crucial to size these boards correctly. Yes the big sizes will catch everything in sight and you can cruise and race around on them, but to really surf them properly you need to have that balance between front and back foot positioning unless you want to try walking the board like a longboard! I'm still not sure about size for myself though. 5'4" seems like it could be good for that little extra volume, but I think 5'2" would be a lot easier to wrap back into the pocket and stay with slower waves on.

Here's a shot of the waves. Tiny, full tide slack and shapely.Attachment
Any the beast in the back of the car.Attachment

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Wow ! what great advise , I think I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around 5'4 or 5'6 I probably will pick up the 5'4 because of more performance vs cruisey it's just alittle weird to go from a 6'0 to a 5'4 but the volumn is the same . I do have alot of longboard experience as well, so i guess my biggest fear about the whole thing is wave count / missing them but if the one feels to small i can always go get the other !

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Is it wrong that I'm annoyed that the swell is picking up tomorrow and I probably won't get to surf the SP again?!
I also like how it makes the stubby little Sub Scorcher look like a full on shortboard.Attachment

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Quick Sweet Potato story here. Just got back from Christmas holidays and took her out in 1-2.5ft glassy, low, low tide sand bottom rights. This wave was full and slow on the takeoff and when it hit the bank it took off for a long wally little wave - perfect for the Spud!
Enter muscle mal rider man and his 2 sons (little mini muscle men around 10-11 yrs old) these guys proceeded to take every ripple that came through with dad calling them into waves....even if someone was already on them. It really ruined what was a relaxed atmosphere.
I decided to paddle away and was lucky to paddle into a wider right hander and one of his sons was about 30-40 metres down the line on the suckier part of the sandbank. Imagine his surprise when his dad tells him to take the wave and some old bloke (me) in a hat and some weird bamboo decked thingy appears from no where, grabs the grommet under the arm pits and gently steers him over the back of the wave and continues to surf on down the line.
I paddled back out and the dad is looking at me (quietly shitting myself) I say "nice waves hey?" he nods and then asks "what the hell are you riding?"

This board made me feel like Tow-Mater in the movie Cars 2 when he has those rockets on the back and they ignite! (sorry if you haven't seen the movie)

end result - they still dropped in but only when I definently wasn't going to make it - Long live the Sweet Potato!

ive gotta learn to be more like goanna....i would of grabbed the dads board, knocked out the fins, and then crapped myself the whole surf knowing he was in the carpark waiting to kill me...in my mind i'm still 30 y/o and 100kg...in reality i'm an aging "has-been that never was" who is allergic to pain..!!!...that aside, i also have found peoples curiosity of our equipment has turned potential hasslers into friends.....good yarn goanna...!!